Prior to last Monday night’s American Legion Chairman’s Cup final against Ashland, Hudson’s team paid tribute to the five 19-year-old players who would be participating in their final Legion game. Sam Ashline, Mike Bohane, Dan King, Jake Wardwell and Ryan Wardwell were all donning the Legion red and white for the final time.

It was fitting that three of those players played a key part in Hudson’s 6-5 win, a victory that gave Post 100 its first Chairman’s Cup trophy. The Chairman’s Cup is a postseason tournament for Zone 5 teams which didn’t qualify for the state playoffs.

Ryan Wardwell drove in a pair of seventh-inning runs and scored what turned out to be the winning run on a John Rumney single. He also ended the game with a brilliant sliding catch of a foul pop fly with the tying run on second base. Jake Wardwell reached base on all four at-bats via a first-inning error, two singles and a walk. He scored two of Hudson’s runs. Ashline drove in Hudson’s first run with a first-inning sacrifice fly and scored in the sixth on Ryan Wardwell’s two-bagger.

Ryan Wardwell led the team in RBIs. Jake Wardwell led in hits and runs and Ashline had the highest batting average.

“All five 19-year-olds, their contributions over the last three or four years are too many to name. I am certainly going to miss them next year.’” Hudson manager Blair Brissette said.

“In the fifth inning I kind of got a big hit and that got me started and I made that play,” Ryan Wardwell said. “It’s the way I’ve wanted to go out on this field, as a winner and doing something big to help the team win the game. I love this town and I love this field and I love playing with these kids.”

“I can’t say enough about these guys overall with the great season they had with 18 wins, a benchmark that we will strive for in the coming years,” Brissette said.

Monday’s win followed a pair of devastating regular-season losses. Hudson started the season with 11 straight wins, but was denied a trip to the Legion National Tournament with a 3-2 loss to Sudbury in the 12th game. The team went into a mid-season slump, but responded with three straight wins that set up a final-game meeting with Lowell with the winner advancing to the sectional tournament. Lowell moved on by winning 5-0. Lowell reached the state finals before losing to Milford in the last game.

“The way this team bounced back after those two letdowns, to see them come out and win four straight to win this Chairman’s Cup says a lot about their character and I couldn’t be happier for all of them,” Brissette said.

Page 2 of 2 - Ashland reached Hudson starter Austin Bruneau for a run in the first inning. Hudson bounced back with two runs in the home half of the inning on Ashline’s sacrifice fly and a pair of Ashland errors. Two Hudson errors and a sacrifice fly allowed Ashland to tie the score in the second inning. However, Hudson retook the lead in the third on a Jake Wardwell single.

Ashland moved back in front by a run in the fourth inning, but Hudson rallied in the fifth to move out to a 6-3 lead. Bruneau began to tire in the sixth. Brissette called upon reliever Nick Borsari after a run scored and Ashland had the bases loaded with one out. Borsari gave up a run-scoring single before retiring the side on a strikeout and a fly ball. He returned in the seventh to fan two hitters around an infield error before Wardwell put a punctuation mark on his career with his sliding catch.

“We had saved Nick specifically for that role,” Brissette said. “Obviously, we would have liked to bring him in in a different situation, but Austin got to the point where he was running out of gas and they were coming up to the middle of their order, so it was the right time. Nick was the guy we wanted to close out the game with.”

After the game Wardwell reflected on his career in Hudson: “I really wanted to do something big tonight. This town has been to so many state championships and so many Super Bowls, but we (the Hudson High School baseball team) came up short a couple of times last year and in my junior season. I wanted to go out a winner, I’ve been dreaming of winning on the field and having the lights on like this, so this is awesome.”

Wardwell and the other four 19-year-olds have seen their high school and Legion careers end, but all five are continuing to play the game they love.

“I love this sport. I play in college and will continue to play in college and will play after college,” Wardwell said.